Charging device for blast-furnaces.



No. 890,569. PATENTED JUNE 9, 1908.

A. G. MGKEE.

GHARGING DEVICE FOR BLAST FURNAGES. APPLIGATION FILED JAN. 12, 1905.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

ARTHUR G. MCKEE, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF Oh' E-FOL'RTH TO FRANK K. HOOVER AND ONE-FOURTH TOv ARTHUR J. MASON, BOTH OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CHARGING DEVICE FOR BLAST-FURNACES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented-June 9, 1908.

Application led January 12, 1905. Serial No. 240.781.

To all whom 'it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR G. MCKE'E, a citizen of the United States, residentA of Cleveland, county of Cuyahoga, and State of Ohio, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Charging Devices for Blast- Furnaces, of'which the followingis a specification, the )rinciple of the invention being herein explained and th best mode in which 1 have contemplated applying that principle so as to distinguish it from other inventions.

My invention relates to ap aratus for charging blast furnaces with co e, iron ore, limestone and other materials with which the furnaces are to be supplied.

The object of said invention is to effect the distribution of these materials .in the crater of the furnace as uniformly as possible.

There is no method known to the art by which the several charging materials can be placed in the furnace without more or less segregation of the coarser from the finer and the heavier from the lighter articles of each bucket or skip-load, with t e usual result that, more coarse material going to one point sioii due to the high velocit of gas and stock,

and aconsequent early estructioii of the furnace lining on that side. On the other hand points receiving the larger ii'oportioii of the fine material will have tlieir voids largely filled with this fine material. This will result in a greater resistance to the passage of the draft,` and a consequent lower zone of fusion, lower teiiipei'ature, sticking of the stock to the walls, slips, irregular and poor grades 'of iron, and other ills well known to fuinace men.

My invention overcomes the ills above referred to by such a manner of handling the successive charges or skip-loads as secures their substantially uniform distribution, as respects coarse and fine particles, around the axis of the furnace; an( in the accompanying drawing I have illustrated one ractical form of apparatus whereby the obJect and advantages of the invention may be at tained," said drawing representing a vertical axial cross-section of a blast furnace top of a well known form now in general use as arranged in accordance with mv invention, portions of the apparatus being broken away and portions cut by the plane of sect-ion being shown in elevation.

Referiing to the drawing, the mechanism therein illustrated embodies, in addition to other parts hereinafter described, automatic nieans'for raising the material to the top of the furnace in a skip A, such means being ai'- ranged to dump the contents of the skip at a point above such top and fixed relatively thereto. These means per se do not form any pai't of my invention, and may be any one of the forms of mechanism adapted to accomplish this purpose which arc well known to those skilled in the art..

In the usual opening in the top of the furnace B is secured a fixed hopper Bl, which hasits lower or bottom opening controlled and normally closed by a bell C",-while its top.

openin is coveredby a frusto-conical ea B?, upon w ich is secured a receptacle C1, w iich may be made in any of a'number of suitable forms, but whose lower opening is controlled and normally closed by a bell, C2. This receptacle C is of such a size as to be capable of containing but one or two skip-loads of material at one time; and in the said construction heretofore used, where such receptacle has been of' stationary form, it has been found that the greater stock was always t eposited in the side of the receptacle o iposite to or nearly opposite to the oint o dumping (depending upon the particular forni of the receptacle (1 used in each case), land the greater portion of the fine particles and dust was always deposited at a point near or immediately below t ie dumping oint. This segregation of the coarse and ie material has heretofore been continued in much the same proportion during its passage through the lower hopper and furnace, with the result that the gases found an easier passageway up the side of thel furnace containing the preponderance of lumps, with the resulting bad working of the furnace and anearly destruction of its lining above described.

ortion of large Alumps of Assuming the receptacle C and theliopper receptacle C, the coarser lumps finding lodgnlcnt on the side oppositel the skip, and the dust and finer partie es tending to collect on th(` side adjacent to the skip. After each skip-dumping operation, the said receptacle is partially rotated by a driving rope or cable c7 passing around a sheave c integral with or secured to the receptacle L, or by any other suitableand equivalent rotating mechanism, and the bell C2 is lowered to deposit the load into the hop er Bl by means of a lever E that is fulcrumeil) on a suitable fixed support F and is provided with a motor G and a counterweight E1 for counter balancing to a greater or less extent the weight of the parts suispended from the other en of the lever E. The bell C2 is suspended from a tube C6 to whose upper end is secured a bearing disk c3 having an anti friction ball bearing, 'as shown, in the yoke C3, which latter is vsuspended from the end of lever E. l These successive partial rotations of the said receptacle Cl are made ofa length increasing successively by c ual increments, so that the lumpy portion ofl each skip-load, after the latter has been deposited in the receptacle C, is de osited in the hopper Bl at a point differing rom that at which such lumps of the immediately preceding load were deposited. It will therefore be seen that the large lumps and the finer material are successive y deposited at dierent and successive ,points in the hopper B1, the coarse and fine parts of the various loads overlapping, and by using aproper schedule of varlations in the amount of rotation, the irregular and unequal distribution heretofore unavoidable in the hop er Bl and the furnace', is 'equalized and ma e uniformto an extent heretofore im ssible. When the ho per B1 is filled to te desired extent, the be C is lowered to deposit the contents of the hopper B1 in the urnace through the agency of a lever E2 fulcrumed on a suitable support F2, connected with the bell C4 by a ro c2 extending through the tube C*3 and provided with a motor G and a eounterweight E.

It will be observed that the o eration of the mechanism described is such t at each skipload of material is distributed in the rece tacle Cl in a layer concentric with the f rnace. This annular or ring-like arrangement of each skip-load of the material is maintained as itis lowered into the hopper` B1 and thence into the furnace, which result is especialljr desirable, as each skip-load is thus sprea over the crater of the furnace in a thin layer, and thus offers the best conditions for intimate contact and easy chemical reaction with the adjacent la ers. The distribution of the limestone or fllux in this manner is re uired in order that a uniform slag ymay resu t but if the operator, for any reason, desires to make the layers of other materials thicker, this can readily be accomplished by charging two or more skip-loads of the one material in succession. By this arrangement any un-uniform conditions in the furnace can be equalized by means of individual portions in any manner and at any time desirable, so that equal segments of the 73 material in the furnace after any one series of zrounds has been charged therein, or when the initial point is again reached, will contain substantially equal volumes of voids. I am` advised that a rotatable spout has heretofore been employed forcontrolling the distribution of the furnace charge, but my inventionl embodies certain advantageous features not found in a device of such character. For instance, each skip-load is first deposited in the u per receptacle ina layer concentric with tiie furnace, and then is distributedin the lower hop er and finally 'in the furnace, with the resu t that the several materials are uniformly distributed in much '3; finer layers than is possible with the device mentioned. This is especially desirable in order that the limestone may be mixed as intimately as possible with the other charged materials, thus facilitating the chemical reaction incident to the formation of slag. In the device em loying the dischar ing spput this is impossi le, as all of each s ip-load is deposited at one point in the circumference of the furnace, and the deposit of flux through- 9'; out the entire circumference of the furnace is not j accomplished until several rounds have been charged. The uniform distribution of the fine and coarse particles throughout the entire cross-section of the furnace is also more perfectly and effectively secured than is possible through the agency of a rotatable spout.

I claim:l

1. In charging ,devices for blast furnaces, 195 the combination with means forforming a charge of stock comprising a lurality of portions each` distributed in a ayer concentric with the furnace, the positions of vsimilar parts of different` portions being'varied; of 110 means for introduclng such charge as a whole into the furnace.

2. vIn charging devices for blast furnaces, the combination of a receptacle; means for depositing portions of the charging material therein at intervals of time.; m'eans for shifting the position of said deposited material; and means for distributing each portion over the entire crater of the furnace.

3. In charging devices for blast furnaces, the combination of a receptacle, means for depositing portions of the charging material therein at intervals of time, each such portion being de osited in a ring the center of which coincides with the rejected axis of the furnace; means for shting the position of said deposited material in a horizontal plane around said axis; and means for introducing into the furnace a charge comprising a plurality of such portions.'

4. In 'charging devices for blast furnaces, the combination of a hopper; means for disy tributing each portion of stock at intervals therein; andmeans for varying as desired, relatively to the furnace-circumference, the positions of similar parts of different portions.

5. In devices forl uniformly distributing stock in'blast furnaces, the combination of a hop r; means for forming -therein successive y charges of stock each comprising a plurality of portions, each such portion being 6. In char ing vdevicesfor blast furnaces,"

the combination of a hopper of a capacity to receive and hold a charge of stock comprising a plurality of portions; mean`s for introducing into the hopper said portions separately and each distributed over the entire surface of the hopper; means for. depositingv atively to the furnace-cin,

where desired', re cuinference, the major part of the coarse. material of 'differentportionm and means for introducing. into `the furnace 'the charge of stock as a whole.

7. In an apparatus for charging centrally 30 filled blast-furnaces, the combination with a. stationary receptacle havin a lower orificeI centrally coincident with t e vertical axis of the furnace and opening directly into the latter, of a bell to seal said oriiice movable 35 toward `and from the latter,` a superposed distributing receptacle having a lowerl ori? ice o ning into saidstationary rece tacle, a bel movable toward and from sai lastnamed orificeA to seal the same, means foi inY troducing a charge stock to said' distributf Y Y w LA] .f

ing receptacle in such a ma-mei that said Y Y charge occupies substantiallythe entire cross-- sectional area of the latter, and means forrotating said'distributing receptacle whereby .15

.to distribute around the vertical axis of the .furnace the errors or irregularities of succes-- sive charges. l

Signed by me, this 9th day of January l ARTHUR G. MCKEE. l Attested by:

E. M. N o izLiNo,v A.- E. Minimi.. 

